A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Lochcarron, a coast parish of SW Ross-shire, containing the stations of Attadale, Strathcarron, and Auchnashellach, on the Dingwall and Skye branch (1870) of the Highland railway, 48, 45¾, and 40 miles WSW of Dingwall. Containing also the fishing village of Jeantown or Lochcarron, it is bounded N by Gairloch, E by Contin, SE by Urray (detached) and Lochalsh, S by Lochalsh and salt-water Loch Carron, and W by Applecross. Its utmost length, from NE to SW, is 201/8 miles; its utmost breadth is 105/8 miles; - nd its area is 1307/10 square miles, or 83, 6561/3 acres, of which 12622/3 are water, 54½ tidal water, and 8511/3 foreshore. The upper 8¾ miles of beautiful Loch Carron, ¼to 13/8 mile broad, belong to this parish, which takes its name therefrom, except that Strome Ferry terminus and the last 2½ miles of the railway (closely skirting all the south-eastern shore) are in the parish of Lochalsh. The river Carron, issuing from Loch Scaven or Sgamhain (9 x 21/3 furl.; 491 feet) on the Contin border, flows 14 miles south-westward to the head of Loch Carron, and about midway in its course expands into Loch Doule or Dhughaill (11 x 3 furl.; 100 feet). Lochs Coulin and Clair, together 2½ miles long, and from 50 to 600 yards broad, lie on the Gairloch border at an altitude of 300 feet, and send off a stream towards the head of Loch Maree; Loch an Laoigh (1 x ¼ mile; 893 feet) lies on the Lochalsh border, and sends off a stream towards the head of Loch Long; and elsewhere, either on the boundaries or dotted over the interior, are fully thirty smaller lakes and lakelets. The surface is everywhere mountainous. Chief elevations to the NW of loch and river, as one goes up Glencarron, are Bad a' Chreamha (1293 feet), Glas Bheinn (2330), Torr na h-Iolaire (1383), Meall a' Chinn Deirg (3060), Fuar Tholl (2868), Sgurr Ruadh (3141), Beinn Liath Mhor (3034), and Carn Breac (2220); to the SE, Carn nan Iomairean (1523), Creag a' Chaoruinn Eagan (2260), Sgurr Choinnich (3260), and Moruisk (3026). The predominant rock is gneiss, conjoined with quartzite, clay-slate, and limestone; Old Red sandstone occurs separately; and the presence of iron is indicated by a few chalybeate springs. The soil is exceedingly various. A good deal has been done in the way of planting, fencing, reclaiming, and road making on the Auchnashellach and Lochcarron estates; but less than a twentieth of the entire area is in tillage or under wood. One of the twenty-five fishery districts of Scotland bears the designation of Loch Carron and Skye. Within this district the number of boats at the beginning of 1883 was 743, of fishermen 2152, of fishcurers 87, and of coopers 58, whilst the value of boats was £5738, of nets £18, 074, and of lines £2429. The following is the number-of barrels of herrings cured or salted in different years (1854) 2056, (1874) 17,932, (1878) 5682, (1881) 53, 649½, (1882) 77,783; of cod, ling, and hake taken (1871) 30, 552, (1874) 15,180, (1879) 44,945, and (1882) 22,160. The only antiquities are an old circular dun or fort behind Jeantown, and the remains of Strome Castle, once a stronghold of the Macdonalds of Glengarry. Two Gaelic poets of the early part of the 18th century, William and Alexander Mackenzie, were natives of Lochcarron. Courthill House, in a small detached fragment of the parish, at the head of Loch Kishorn, 5½ miles W by N of Jeantown, is on the Lochcarron estate, which in 1882 was sold by Dugald Stuart, Esq., to C. J. Murray, Esq., M.P. Auchnashellach is a shooting lodge of Ivor-Bertie Guest, created Baron Wimborne in 1880; and two other proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 1 of between £100 and £500, and 2 of from £20 to £50. Giving off a portion to Shieldaig parliamentary parish, Lochcarron is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of Glenelg; the living is worth £222. The parish church, 1¼ mile NNE of Jeantown, was built in 1751, and contains upwards of 300 sittings. There is also a Free church; and four public schools-Attadale, Balnachra, Lochcarron, and Strome-with respective accommodation for 43, 50, 170, and 56 children, -had (1883) an average attendance of 3l, 13, 71, and 27, and grants of £38, 6s. 6d., £24, 12s., £65, 16s. 6d., and £29, 11s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £3271, (1884) £5699, 19s. 7d. Pop. (1801) 1178, (1831) 2136, (1861) 1592, (1871) 1629, (1881) 1456, of whom 1311 were Gaelic-speaking, and 1405 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 82, 81, 1882.
The presbytery of Lochcarron comprises the quoad civilia parishes of Applecross, Gairloch, Glenelg, Glenshiel, Kintail, Lochalsh, Lochbroom, and Lochcarron, and the quoad sacra parishes of Knoydart, Plockton, Poolewe, Shieldaig, and Ullapool. Pop. (1871) 18,712, (1881) 17, 243, of whom 297 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878.-The Free Church also has a presbytery of Lochcarron, with churches at Applecross, Coigach, Gairloch, Glenelg, Glenshiel, Lochalsh, Lochbroom, Lochcarron, Plockton, Poolewe, and Shieldaig, which 11 churches together had 5653 members and adherents in 1883.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a coast parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Lochcarron ScoP Ross Shire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Lochcarron |
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